Upcoming festival in India: Ganesh Chaturthi
About Lord Ganesha
Ganesha is known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, or by numerous other names, Ganesha is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Thailand, Bali (Indonesia) and Bangladesh.Ganesh Chaturthi History
It is unclear when the festival started, it became a major social and public event with sponsorship of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj after Mughal-Maratha wars, and again in the 19th century after public appeal by Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak, who championed it as a means to circumvent the colonial British government ban on Hindu gatherings through its anti-public assembly legislation in 1892.
Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chavithi is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Ganesha. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha clay idols privately in homes, or publicly on elaborate pandals stage. This is followed by a 16-step ritual called Shodashopachara Puja. During this puja, offerings which were loved by Ganesha are placed infront of his idol. Some of these are modak, shrikhand, payasam, coconut rice and motichoor laddoo. Devotees throng to the temples to pay their respects to Lord Ganesha, where pujas take places and bhajans are sung. Localities put up pandals in which huge statues of Lord Ganesha are put up. After the ritual, Lord Ganesha’s statue is immersed in water, which is known as Ganpati Visarjan. While taking the idols to be immersed in the sea, there is a lot of singing, dance and merriment that takes place
